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HISTORICAL SKETCH 



OF THE FAMILY OF 



MICHAEL FEES BURT BIRD 

Of Roxbury, Massachusetts 
A Pioneer of East Smith- 
field, Pennsylvania, in 

1801 




To which is added a Brief History 
of the 

SUMNER FAMILY 

Who were also Pioneers 
of East Smithfield, Pa. 

BY 

NJNCr NILES BIRD 
1904 






PRE3B OF 
FIERSTINE PRrNTINO HOU*E, 
UTICA, N. Y., 

1905. 






To my Niece, Betsey G. {Sumner) Black- 
man, and to my Son, Jesse Sumner Bird, 
this Sketch is lovingly dedicated 

By the Author. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Penfield, Clearfield Co., Pa., 

Oct. 30, 1904. 
Mrs. Nancy Niles Bird, 

East Smithfield, Pa. 

My Dear Cousin: — It was a pleasure to learn that, at the 
earnest request of descendants of the Birds and Sumners of 
Smithfield, you had consented to write somewhat of early 
times in Smithfield, and of our ancestors. 

Your most excellent little book on the Sunday School of 
that section was carefully read more than once, and with 
much interest. The evidence of careful inquiry and research 
given in that book caused me to believe that if your strength 
would hold out, you would gather up the scattered threads 
and weave into readable form all that can now be found that 
comes within the scope of your work. 

Let me ask that if possible you place in your sketches a pic- 
ture of the "Uncle John Bird" house, and also a likeness of 
yourself. 

My personal knowledge of your persistent Christian charac- 
ter, dating back at least to 1844, of your help in holding up the 
banner of Temperance and all movements tending to uplift 
society, and of your activity in all religious work within your 
reach, causes me to ask you to insert this personal tribute as a 
preface to your history. 

Among the most pleasant incidents of my life was my late 
visit to Smithfield, when with yourself and Cousin Fanny 
(Andrus) Bailey of Bradford, Pa., we went over the "old 
places" to refresh our memories, hoping to assist in your work 
of love. 

Yours in Christ, 

Lucian Bird, Age, 1\\ yrs. 



PREFACE. 



Betsey G. (Sumner) Blackman and Jesse Sumner Bird were 
the first to suggest the writing of this sketch, in these words: 
"Aunt Nancy, you know more of the early history of our par- 
ents and ancestors than any one else, and you must write it 
out and thus preserve it for us." He added, "Mother, it 
must be done. I shall be greatly disappointed if it is not." 
Their persistency prevailed and the work w^as commenced. 

Two thoughts have controlled the writer: First, to pre- 
serve to the present and future generations the knowledge of 
the early trials and hardships endured by our ancestors in 
their efforts to establish homes in an unbroken wilderness, 
that we might better realize how much we owe to them as we 
enjoy the fruits of their labors. Second, to note their Chris- 
tian character and see how God fulfills His promise to "bless 
them that fear the Lord." 

To those who have rendered assistance, thanks are returned; 
especially to Cousin Lucian Bird, who has given sympathy, 
encouragement and valuable information; also to his daughter 
Nellie Bird, who has made many suggestions, done the type- 
writing and helped to arrange the matter for printing ; and to 
all his family for their love and care, while spending three 
weeks in their home preparing the work. 

As the writer has reviewed the past sixty-five years of her 
life, has remembered her child love for Fanny Andrus, Harriet 
Bird, Phebe Gerould and others, which love still continues; 
recalls her memories of Michael Bird; the giving of her heart's 
best earthly love to Lark Bird — a trust never betrayed, the 
love she received from him and his family — all now passed 
away save one, (brother John) ; the love of nephews and nieces 



as now manifested in many ways for "Aunt Nancy," she has 
exclaimed: "How good the Lord has been to us all, that we 
have been permitted to know and love one another. " 

This work has been to her a " labor of love. " To the young- 
er members of the Harry Lewis Bird family she is a stranger. 
If mistakes of omission or otherwise have been made, it has 
been through ignorance, and she hopes they will be pardoned. 
In some cases letters asking for information have not been an- 
swered. 

It has been her privilege to know and love the Sumner fam- 
ily, except the father and son who first came to Smithfield, 
only to be laid in the grave. 

Hoping that all the Birds and Sumners may find some pleas- 
ure in reading this imperfect work, pardon all its imperfec- 
tions and accept it as love's tribute, her prayer will ever be for 
a reunion of all on the Other Shore. 

The Author, 

Nancy Niles Bird. 
E.^ST Smithfield, 

Bradford Co., Pa., 

Dec. 1904. 



EXPLANATORY. 



Michael Bird's children's names are printed in capitals 
ANTIQUE and are marked with the Roman numerals, I., II., 
III., IV., v., VI., VII. 

The grandchildren are printed in Antique lower case with 
the arabic figures, i, 2, 3, etc. 

The great grandchildren are printed with the Arabic figures 
in parenthesis, (i,) (2,) (3,) etc., and the paragraphs in- 
dented. 



EXTRACTS, 



"To the honorable, sincere, straightforward folk, assisting 
in the advance of the world in material and spiritual matters — 
this is worthy — this is courageous. Hence those who stand 
for these things are worthy of honor." 

" Like all the others of the family, I stand ever for high cit- 
izenship, decency, sincerity, honesty. I cannot endure the 
intrigueing of the selfish politician, who works for personal 
glory under the cloak of patriotism." 

"The highest excellence ever attained in this world is a sin- 
cere Christian character. 'Tis true this comes from above, 
but comes to those only who themselves make earnest personal 
effort to acquire it. 

" 'An honest man is the noblest work of God' the proverb 
tells us. Add to this that such an one, and none other, is fit 
for citizenship in the United States." 

"They tell us of wealth and earthly honor. The closing 
years of life will show the one to be a grievous burden — the 
other a reproachful mockery." 

Harlan Page Bird. 



History of the Bird Family of East Smith- 



field, Penn. 



MICHAEL PRESBURY BIRD was born in Roxbury, 
Massachusetts, January i8, 1769. He was the son of 
James Bird and Deborah van Presbury, of Roxbury, who 
were married November 14, 1765. The Boston Church 
records give the following: Michael Presbury Bird, son of 
James Bird, was baptized January 22nd, 1769. There are 
also records of the baptism of a daughter of James and Debo- 
rah Bird, October i8th, 1767, and a son James, April 13th, 
1766. This is all the writer now knows of his family. 

In boyhood, Michael was apprenticed to a barber, and 
gave seven year's time and work to learn that trade, which 
then required special skill and gave the artist high social 
rank as well as good compensation. Becoming proficient in 
the art, he was often called to the house of John Adams, who 
became second President of the U. S. in 1797, and other 
prominent families, to dress the hair of both men and wom- 
en, and to braid their cues for public balls and receptions. 
He often dressed the hair of John Quincy Adams, who was 
one and a half years his senior and who became President of 
the U. S. March 4, 1825. May 20, 1790,116 was married in 
Boston, Mass., to Betsey Lewis, born in Billerica, Mass., 
July 8, 1772. They had two children born in Boston, Fan- 
nie, born May 7, 1 791, John, born May 11, 1792. Sometime 
between 1792 and 1797, exact date not known, they remov- 

8 



ed to Rutland, Vermont. Cues had gone suddenly out of 
fashion, half his trade as barber was gone, and his vigorous 
manhood longed for a wider sphere of action, hence his re- 
moval from Boston. In Rutland two children were born; 
Eliza Abigail, Sept. 12, 1797, and Harry Lewis, Sept. 30, 
1800. 

While living in Rutland he purchased 160 acres of wild 
land in Smithfield, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, It was 
bought under what was known as the Connecticut title and 
supposed to be good, but proved worthless. William Bing- 
ham, an Englishman, owned an immense tract of land in 
Northern Pennsylvania, including Bradford County. Af- 
ter his death the estate was handled by trustees. William 
B. Clymer was the Managing agent in Philadelphia. In 
1844 agents were sent from Philadelphia to Bradford 
County to demand payment for the lands to the Bingham 
estate. The demands were for a time considered unjust and 
much excitement prevailed among the settlers and some op- 
position. The Courts decided in favor of the claimants, 
and the settlers complied with their terms. It was not till 
i860 that Lark Bird, grandson of Michael, paid the last dol- 
lar of their claim. 

I quote from "Early Times," written by Mrs. Geo. A. 
Perkins in 1869: "In 1783, Matthias Hollenback estab- 
lished a store at Tioga Point, now Athens, for the few 
white people that had settled up and down the Susquehan- 
na River. He kept dry goods and groceries for the whites, 
beads, brooches and blankets for the Indians, and rum for 
both. These goods were brought up the river in boats from 
Philadelphia for Hollenback's store. There being no post- 
office in the county till 1800, letters were addressed to Hol- 
lenback's store and from there delivered. In 1 788 John Shep- 



ard bought 600 acres of land at $2.50 per acre, on a creek 
since called Shepard's creek — the place known for many- 
years as Mill-Town, nowSayre. On this lot was a saw mill 
and grist mill, the only one within fifty miles. It was run 
both night and day. Loads of grain were brought to be 
ground in this mill fifty miles, in boats, carts and sleighs. 
In 1798 this mill was burned, and while being rebuilt, a 
horse-power mill was put in operation and run night and 
day. To supply the inhabitants with bread, canoes were 
filled with grain and sent down the river to Hollenback's 
Mills at Wilkesbarre, eighty miles distant. If sent by team 
it would require twenty days to make the trip. About 1806 
Mr. Shepard added a fulling mill for fulling cloth for men's 
wear, also for coloring and pressing home-made woolen 
cloth for both men's and women's wear." This mill contin- 
ued business many years. The writer remembers that 
in 1845, she spun the woolen yarn, her mother wove the 
cloth, it wa^, sent to Shepard's Mills and colored brown and 
pressed. That cloth was made into a dress and worn by the 
writer to an evening party, and she thought herself well 
dressed, 

The first permanent settler in the present township of 
Smithfield was Reuben Mitchell, from Rhode Island, who, 
with his family, came to Smithfield in 1794, then called Ul- 
ster, and they for about four years were the only inhabitants 
of the township. About 1798 several men commenced im- 
provements, but soon abandoned them. In 1799 James 
Satterlee, from Otsego County, N. Y., and Samuel Satterlee 
from Connecticut, settled here. In 1800 Jabez Gerould, 
from Connecticut, came to Smithfield and prepared a log 
house for the reception of his family, to which they came in 
1 80 1. In 1800 Michael Bird visited his new purchase, cut 

10 




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down some trees, built a log house and made some improve- 
ments. Not a stick of timber had ever been cut upon the 
place nor had he ever cut down a tree the size of his body. 
He did not know enough of woodcutting at first to stand on a 
log, chop it on one side, and then turn around to cut it on the 
other side, but expected to stand on the ground and cut the 
tree in two. Another trial of the six families living in the 
settlement was, only one had a grindstone, and all must go 
to that to grind their axes or brush scythes. Lucien Bird, 
grandson of Michael, gave the writer this information, 
and added: "I have seen that stone and it was worn very 
small." It is now in the possession of Selden Tracy, at 
Smithfield. 

Michael Bird returned to Vermont in the fall of 1800. In 
March, 1801, with his wife and four children, John, the 
eldest son, less than ten years of age, and Harry, less 
than one year old, he came to Smithfield to his new home. 
In what way they came, with horses or an ox team, is not 
known — probably the latter. The country was truly a wil- 
derness. Tioga Point, now Athens, was on the Susquehan- 
na River six miles east and four miles north from Smithfield 
and the only road between these places was"blazed" trees — 
the underbrush, &c., having been cleared sufficiently for ox- 
en and a sled to pass through. Upon arriving, he found the 
spring of water near which he built his house had failed; so 
he cleared away the timber near a living spring, on the 
southern boundery of the land, a few rods west of the road 
leading to the commodious farm buildings now owned by 
his great grandson, George Niles Bird, and known for many 
years as the "Bird Farm." Here he built another log 
house. The roof was made from bark peeled from the tree 
in large sheets for the purpose, laid in tiers and kept in 

11 



place by poles laid across the tiers. These roofs were a good 
protection from the sun, but sometimes in heavy rains 
proved failures. This house, as occupied for awhile, had 
only the ground for a floor. There was no chimney, and 
some stones were laid up at one end of the log building, the 
fire was built against these — the smoke being expected to 
go out through a hole in the roof. One of the trials of the 
city-bred mother was, that the smoke would not always go 
out, causing the room to be very smoky; hence it was a great 
relief to get a chimney after awhile. Another trial was, 
the mother had brought from Boston a set of rare china 
dishes. Having no boards or nails to make a cupboard, or 
closet, a plank was hewn with an axe and hung against the 
wall with strings of moose wood, upon which the china treas- 
ures were placed. The strings broke, every dish fell to the 
floor and was broken, the poor mother's tears mingling with 
the fragments. Ash logs were split with an axe into planks, 
or puncheons, as they were called, to make a floor, and 
that was considered quite an advance. Their windows 
were very small as glass was costly. No patent locks, or 
door handles, or window fastenings were known then. The 
door latch was a wooden one, whittled out of soft pine 
wood with a jacknife, resting in a wooden catch and oper- 
ated with a leather string. Chairs and tables were a lux- 
ury, benches and seats manufactured with an axe and saw, 
sufficed. Huge trees of pine, hemlock, beech, birch,maple 
and other varieties covered the land. Wild animals were 
abundant. The bear roamed about freely, the catamount 
and the wolf made the night hideous with their cries. The 
deer, more friendly, furnished meat for the family, but to 
get salt to use on it, or lard to cook it with was a problem. 
As the boy Harry said in after years, ' ' We would most as 

12 



soon eat chips as to eat the deer meat dry. It was better 
when we got to raising hogs." Smaller game of many va- 
rieties was plenty. Fish was found in the stream that ran 
through the place, especially the speckled trout, now un- 
fortunately extinct. 

Upon the hills were chestnut trees with their fruit. Sweet 
elder berries in their season furnished clusters of red berries 
which the good housewife learned to make into sauce and 
pies. Berries of various kinds, the whortle berries, red and 
and black raspberries and blackberries were indigen- 
ous to the soil — and as soon as trees were cut and the 
land cleared they were abundant. Sweet fern, a bush bear- 
ing abundant aromatic leaves, was found to be a good sub- 
stitute for tea, and that with sage was for many years the 
family drink at meals. For variety, crust coffee was used, 
made of crusts of bread dried, toasted, then steeped in water 
a few moments and sweetened with the sap of the maple 
tree, or sugar made from the sap. Not for two years could 
a cow be kept or milk be obtained. But the dear city-bred 
mother was not a strong woman and being subject to hard 
headaches could hardly live without her cup of tea. How 
to obtain the money to buy a quarter of a pound of tea for 
mother at $5.00 per pound, from the nearest store at Tioga 
Point, ten miles distant, was a problem. The nearest mill 
where grain could be ground was at Milltown, now Sayre, 
twelve miles distant. To obtain food for his family, Mich- 
ael Bird would walk to Milltown and work till he had earned 
a bag of corn meal, then bring it home upon his shoulders. 
At one time he bought three bushels of com at Milltown 
for nine days' work, and paid 50 cents for grinding it, 50 cents 
more for getting it home. Assisted by his wife and older 
children, he often spent his evenings making brooms. They 

13 



would take a stick of birch wood, strip off the bark from 
one end, peel strips one half inch wide or less, and one foot 
long — fasten with a strong cord of moose wood to form a 
brush or broom, as it was called, then cut away the long 
end to a suitable size for a handle. This was the only 
broom the family had for many years. When he had as 
many of these brooms as he could carry on his back, he 
would take them to Tioga Point and exchange them for 
family food and necessaries, bringing the articles home on 
his back. 

In 1804 Phineas Pierce built a saw mill on the Tom 
Jack Creek about 80 rods north of the present residence of 
Oren Wilcox. The irons for the mill, with an anvil and 
bellows he brought with him from Vermont with an ox 
team. He located on the farm afterward known as the 
Randall farm. He died in 1808. In 1808 Solomon Morse 
built a grist mill at Smithfield Centre, both of which were 
great conveniences to the settlers and gave much joy. 
Their clothing was of the plainest home manufacture of wool 
and flax. Shoes and sometimes moccasins made from the 
skins of wild animals gave warmth in the cold winter. His 
son Harry, in later years, said to his own children: " I have 
seen father so poorly off for shoes that they would be tied on 
with a withe or strip of moose wood bark." At this time 
sole leather was 50c. a pound, and labor 50c. a day. Fuel 
was abundant for warmth, and tallow candles furnished 
light. 

After a few years, as the land was cleared to raise a few 
acres of winter wheat, a cow, sheep, hogs and fowls could be 
kept and they lived in comparative comfort. When his 
sons, John and Harry, were old enough to work on the farm, 
their father Michael would walk to Milton, Pa., sixty miles, 

14 



to work as a barber and assistant in a tavern for a few weeks 
or months, to earn money for family necessaries. The chair 
he then used in his barber shop is now treasured as a relic of 
olden time in the house of George N. Bird, his great grand- 
son, on the old farm. 

Many years after his son Harry gave this testimony: 
" Mother died when I was about twenty-three years of age. 
She was not a strong woman, was better adapted to a city 
life, or to live in civilization. The loneliness of the situation 
and the privations incident to living in the wilderness were 
more than she was able to bear. Father was more robust, 
better able to rough it, and yet he felt keenly the changes 
in the manner of living and of the surroundings." 

Michael Bird and his wife were Christian people. He 
loved his Bible and reared the family altar in his home. The 
Congregational Church of Smithfield was organized about 
the time of his coming into the town. He and his wife be- 
came members in 1813, and he was for many years a deacon 
in the church. 

In Smithfield three children were born to them, as follows 
Laura, born May 4, 1808. 

Sophia and Maria, born April 5, 181 2. (Twin daugh- 
ters.) Sophia died April, 26, 181 2. Maria died May 24, 
1812. 

His wife, Betsy Bird, died April 8, 1823. 

November 20, 1823, he married Amy Knapp, of Elmira, 
N. Y. She was a widow with several children. Her sons 
preferred to remain in Elmira, but one daughter came into 
the Bird home. After several years of married life together, 
her daughter having married, and both being aged and fee- 
ble, her sons wished her to spend her remaining days with 
them in Elmira. It was so arranged, he remaining with his 

15 



children in Smithfield. When his sons John and Harry were 
old enough to carry on the farm, he gave up the cares and 
responsibilities to them. His last years were very quiet 
and happy. He divided his time living some months in the 
home of his daughter Laura, who had married Dr. Daniel 
Andrus, then at his son John's, on the old farm, where he 
died June 23, 1851, aged 82 years, five months and five days. 
At his death his descendants numbered over sixty. At 
present writing, as near as can be ascertained, they number 
289, of whom 238 are living. 

I. FANNY, daughter of Michael Bird, was born in Boston 
May 7, 1 791. Married Solomon Morse in Smithfield Decem- 
ber II, 1806. Died in Troy, Pa., January 31, 181 1. Left 
two children. 

1. Betsey, born in Smithfield, Pa., August 22, 1807. 
Died in Troy, Pa., April 15, 1823. 

2. Loren B., born in Smithfield, Pa., September 2, 
1809. Married Elizabeth Spalding, of Troy, January 21, 
1836. Some time during the 50's he removed with his fam- 
ily to Georgia, settling at Midway, near Milledgeville. Af- 
terward, at Savannah, where he lived during the civil war. 
In 1866 he moved to Brooks County, and in 1874 to Corsi- 
cana, Texas, to the home of his son Adolphus, where his 
wife died November 2, 1884, and where he died August 12, 
1895. He had six children. 

(i). Fanny Jane, born September 19, 1839. 
Died when a few years old. 

(2). Laura Arlette, born August 23, 1841. Mar- 
ried Joseph Robinson, and lives in Florida. Has 
several children. 

16 



(3)- Adolphus Eugene, born August 2^, 1843. 
Married Sallie C. Tabloy in Georgia, December 21, 
187 1, and removed to Corsicana, Texas, where he 
still resides. Is a farmer and stock raiser. He is 
a Christian man. a member of the Methodist Church, 
and for 15 years Superintendent of the Sunday 
School. Hiswifedied November 27, 1887. He has 
six children, and five grandchildren. 

(4). Charles Solomon, born October 23, 1849. 
He entered the Confederate army at 14 years of 
age. After the war closed he studied medicine, 
graduated, and received his diploma from the Savan- 
nah Medical College in March, 1870. In 187 1 he 
moved to Corsicana, Texas. He studied law, and 
in April, 1876, was appointed Clerk of the Court of 
Appeals at Galveston, Texas. In December, 1881, 
was appointed Clerk of the Supreme Court, and 
remained such until his death. May 13, 1902, at 
Austin, Texas. He was a member of the Presby- 
terian Church. A wife and one daughter survive 
him. 

(5). Horace Alonzo, born May 23, 1851. He 
lived with his parents in Georgia till 187 1. He 
moved to Texas with his brothers. Is married, 
and lived at Galveston, Texas, where he was Clerk 
of Court of Appeals ten years. At present is engaged 
in the lumber business in West Texas. Is amember 
of the Episcopal Church. 

(6). Fanny Jane, born March 3, 1855. Married 
a Mr. Walker and lives in Corsicana, Texas. 

II. JOHN, oldest son of Michael Bird, was born in Bos- 
ton, Mass., May 11, 1792. He was nearly nine years old, 

17 



when his father removed from Rutland, Vermont, to Smith- 
field, Pennsylvania. In October, 1858, the writer entered 
his family as the wife of his son Lark, and was a member 
of his family till his death April 11, 1875. From him and 
his wife, Mary Sumner Bird, mentioned elsewhere in this 
history, and whose death occured three years later, June 
15, 1878, she obtained much of the information here 
given. Many an evening was spent in listening to the re- 
cital of the facts of their early life, joys as well as sorrows, 
and of the early customs of society. The only regret is 
that those facts were not then recorded. 

John, as a young lad, entered into pioneer life with a 
love for it. He loved to catch the trout from the brook, 
set the trap for woodchuck or other animals, or bring in 
the squirrel for the family dinner. Later in his young 
manhood, with his rifle upon his shoulder, he roamed 
through the woods for a shot at bear or deer, sometimes 
losing his way but always returning safely at night. To 
the writer he said, " When I was a boy my father would 
put a bag of corn on a horse, seat me on the bag and say, 
' John, you take this to Milltown and get it ground. I 
would go and get home before dark. There being no 
bridge over the Chemung River at Tioga Point, I must 
ford the river, get over on a raft, or cross on the ice in 
winter," 

His school privileges were few. He walked two and one- 
half miles to the only school house in the town, near the 
foot of Mitchell's hill. There being no laid out road open 
he followed a foot path through the woods frequented by 
the bear, deer, and panther, returning home every night. 
For several years this was the only school house in town. 
The first sermon ever preached in town was preached in 

18 











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that log school house in 1S07. The Lords' Supper was ad- 
ministered, the table used being a plank split and shaped 
with a broad axe. The legs were inserted through auger 
holes. The wine used was the unfermented juice of the 
wild grape, sweetened with maple sugar. 

May 12, 1814, he married Mary, widow of Jesse Sumner, 
mentioned elsewhere in this history, and took her and her 
little son Jesse into his father's home in the log house, till 
he could build a frame house on top of the hill. Here he 
lived with his family till 1827, when he built a still 
larger frame house on the spot ever after known as 
the Bird home, and moved his family into it. Michael with 
his second wife. Amy Knapp, and her daughter moved into 
the house they vacated, and the old log house was deserted. 
In 1829 Harry married Eliza Martin, and having a joint in- 
terest in the farm, both families for a time lived in the same 
house. Then a new one was built for Harry's family on 
the east side of the road. In 1837 John bought out Harry's 
interest in the farm, and Harry moved to a new home two 
miles South of Smithfield Center. John sold to his brother- 
in-law, Ziba Gerould, the house Harry vacated. Gerould 
moved it and it forms part of the present residence of Clay- 
ton Gerould. 

John was a strong healthy man,, energetic and hard work- 
ing. About 1832 he purchased an interest in a saw mill 
on the corner opposite the present residence of Oren Wilcox. 
He would leave his home w^ith his hired help and ox teams, 
be at Sodom, two miles distant, at daylight, to cut logs for 
the mill, taking with them their dinner of baked pork and 
beans, brown bread, fried cakes, mince pies and like eat- 
ables, returning at dark with loads of logs to the mill. His 
step son, Jesse Sumner, and his two sons Lark and Orpheus, 

19 



growing toward manhood, would care for the stock and at- 
tend school during the day. 

This continued eight years. During the spring freshets he 
found it necessary to run the mill day and night for weeks 
at a time. In 1840 he sold that mill and built one upon 
his home farm, which was run by him and his sons more 
than forty years. Water was the motive power in both 
these mills and the primitive "Sash saw," made the lum- 
ber. Other lands adjoining his were taken up, until he 
owned about five hundred acres. The place had become 
changed from the wilderness of 1800 to a fertile and pro- 
ductive farm. Orchards gave abundant fruit. A dairy of 
twenty or more cows, young cattle, sheep and swine gave 
plenty of employment for all indoors and out. A market 
was found for lumber by drawing it to the river where it 
was placed in rafts and floated down to Harrisburg, Balti- 
more and other places. When the north branch canal 
was built in the late thirties, extending from Elmira, N. Y., 
to Harrisburg and southward, it furnished means of trans- 
portation for lumber, grain and other farm products and 
added much to the convenience of the settlers and all of the 
inhabitants. When the Lehigh Valley R. R. was built the 
Bird farm furnished many ties for the roadbed. Butter 
in early years was sold at Athens for six cents per pound, 
and when they received ten cents a pound for it, they 
thought it a great price. In later years they found a ready 
market for it at advancing prices, until in the early sixties 
during the civil war, they sold the entire summer make at 
65 cents per pound. 

The war of 181 2 inspired patriotism in the people. A 
military company was formed and well officered, as the 
names, Col. Wm. E. Barton, Col. David Farns worth, Major 

20 



Phelps and Major Enos Califf, testify. Training days were 
gala days, as the men and women would all turn out to 
see the company drilled in the manual of arms They had 
their musicians and marched to music in military style. A 
snare drum used by Major Enos Califf in those parades is 
highly prized to-day by his son, Justin Califf. 

John and Mary Bird never made a profession of religion, 
but were constant attendants of the Congregational Church. 
He was for many years chorister and leader of the choir. 
She said to the writer, " We always went to church when we 
could. John would take the baby in his arms, I would lead 
the other children. We would go on foot, following the foot 
path down through the woods to the "Center," for if we 
went with our ox team, we must go up the hill to the West, 
across by Deacon Samuel Woods to Deacon Hale's, then to 
the Center — four miles, as there was no road opened direct 
from here to the Center." In after years he said, " that was 
a happy day of my life when I owned horses and could take 
my wife and children to church in a lumber wagon." 

Customs of society were very different then from now. 
No fashionable calls, but all-day visits were made. She 
said, "We loved to visit our friends. We had too much 
spinning to do to make clothes for our families to neglect 
our work, so our husbands would take us with our babies 
and our flax wheels in the morning on the ox sled to our 
friends; we would spin and visit all day and they would 
come for us at night." 

They were a sociable people, often helping one another by 
"changing work" When one man's wheat or grass was 
ready to cut before his neighbor's, all would go with scythe 
sickle and hand rake, cut and bind and put in shocks, or if 
hay, draw into the barn; then to the next neighbor's, and 

21 



so on. If necessary the good wives would go too, to help 
about the dinner. No mowing machines, reapers or horse 
rakes were known in those days. The writer well remem- 
bers in the summer of 1859 Jesse Sumner, Lark Bird and 
hired help rising at three o'clock on a moonlight morning, 
and with their hand scythes cutting the grass on the East 
side hill before breakfast "that they might draw it into the 
barn that afternoon." The first mowing machine upon the 
place was bought by Lark in 186 1. He gave $110 for it. 

The young people delighted in social gatherings. A pre- 
vailing custom was apple paring bees. The boys and girls 
would go to a neighbor's in the evening, the boys taking 
hand paring machines, the girls knives and large needles. 
The boys would pare the apples, the girls quarter, core and 
string them on heavy twine. Then they were hung up on 
nails driven into the joists overhead in the kitchen. (No 
plastered walls in those days.) When dried they were 
packed away for family use or sold to the merchants for the 
city market. When ten bushels had been pared, and the 
kitchen cleared of the parings, apple and pumpkin pie and 
cheese would be served, with sweet cider to drink. An 
hour's social time followed, and at 10:30 all were homeward 
bound. 

Husking bees were favorite amusements with old and 
young men as they congregated in the neighbor's barn, 
lighted with tallow candles in tin lanterns, and husked the 
corn, often indulging in a strife to see who could husk a 
bushel the quickest, or make-the biggest pile. Don't imag- 
ine for a moment they forgot to tell their stories, or sing 
their songs. 

John Bird would load a two horse wagon with grain, but- 
ter and cheese, drive sixty miles to Williamsport and ex- 

22 



change for money or family necessaries. No railroads were 
known then. The first post office opened in Smithfield was 
in 1825. The first store in 1838, by Lyman Durfcy. 

The first church edifice was erected in 181 1, by the Con- 
gregational Society. Rev. John Bascom was their first 
preacher, who settled here in 1813. 

In I Si 9 the first Baptist meeting house was built and 
John Bird said, "So great was the interest and enthusiasm 
that nearly every man and boy in town was at the raising. 
The building was 36 by 50 feet, with 22 foot posts; yet the 
Smithfield boys worked with such zeal that they had the 
body of the building up and plates on in fifty-six minutes 
from the time they began work." At that time, and for 
many vears, goods and such necessaries as glass and nails 
were brought by wagon from Catskill on the Hudson River, 
N. Y., at a cost of $80.00 per ton. It required twenty days 
to make the trip, or to go and return. In 181 9 it took tw^en- 
ty bushels of wheat to pay for one box of window glass, 
and four pounds of butter to pay for one pound of nails- 
butter six cents per pound, nails twenty-five cents a 
pound. In 1802 nails were 33 1-3 cents per pound. 

During these years of John Bird's life, his family had 
lived and been clothed in comfort, but not in the style of to 
day. Most of their clothing was homespun of wool and 
flax and home woven. Mother and sisters would spin and 
weave the woolen cloth, take it to Milltown (now Sayre), to 
be colored, fulled and pressed. A woman called a tailoress 
would come to the home and assist the mother in cutting 
and making trousers and coats for the boys and dresses for 
the girls. Mother and the girls knit all the stockings, 
mittens and comforters they wore. A shoemaker came 
with bench and tools, sometimes for two weeks, to make the 

23 



boots and shoes for all the family, from calf -skin or cow- 
hide leather, and sides of sole leather bought in Elmira. 
Who shall say they were not just as happy wearing those 
home-made garments as the young people of to day, attired 
in their fashionable clothing? 

John Bird was an enthusiast in politics, a strong Whig 
and admirer of Henry Clay and often said, "It was a great 
disappointment in my life that Henry Clay never became 
President." He was never happier than when composing 
songs to be sung during the campaign that elected WiHiam 
Henry Harrison to the Presidency. With his sons, Orpheus 
and Harry, he delighted in singing at political meetings in 
his own and other towns. Afterward he was a strong Re- 
publican, a total abstainer from strong drink, and an Anti- 
Slavery man, who was intensely interested in the outcome 
of the Civil War. Horace Greely and the New York Tri- 
bune were his inspiration as long as he lived. 

His friendships were strong — prejudices the same. His 
hospitality was almost unbounded, his home being the scene 
of many social gatherings. After the marriage of his step- 
son, Jesse Sumner, his son Orpheus and the daughters being 
also married. Lark and John, and Mary the youngest daugh- 
ter, being the only children left in the house, he gave up 
the management of the farm and business entirely, to Lark; 
making proper provision for John and Mary, and a life lease 
for himself and wife during their lives. His last years were 
quiet ones. He died April ii, 1875. His wife, Mary Sum- 
ner Bird, died June 15, 1878. They had 10 children. 

1. Phebe, born July 31, 181 5, died Sept. 6, 1828. 

2. Luzina, born December 11,1817, married Enos Ca- 
liff April 30, 1837. Enos Califf died November 13, 1898. 
His wife, Luzina, died December 9, 1901. A faithful wife, 

24 



devoted mother, an earnest Christian, she " came to her grave 
in a full age as a shock of corn cometh in, in his season." 
They were a Christian family, all being members of the Dis- 
ciple Church in Smith Held. They had six children. 

(i). Cornelia, born September 20, 1838. Her 
early life was a very active one. After graduating 
from Dr. Dio Lewis' school of Gymnastics in Bos- 
ton, she taught several years in our large schools, 
including Vassar College and Chestnut Hill Seminary 
in Philadelphia. 

When about to graduate from a medical school in 
Philadelphia, her health failed and she has lived a 
retired life since. 

(2). Ellen, born January 21, 1 841, married Amos 
C. Hale, November 28, 1861, died April 17, 1893, in 
Denver, Colorado. They had four children, three 
now living. All live in Colorado. 

(3) Verona, born March 22, 1843, married Eli 
G. Pierce, May 21, 1874. He died January, 1876. 
They had one child. Verona Pierce married T. H. 
Wible, in Kansas, October 12, 1881. Present resi- 
dence. Grand Junction, Colorado. They have no 
children. 

(4). Emmorette, born January 8, 1846, married 
A. O. Campbell June 9, 1869. For many years he 
has been in the employ of a coal company in Clear- 
field Co., Pa., as book-keeper and paymaster. Has 
been very active in Christian and S. S. work. Pres- 
ent residence Clearfield, Pa. Have two children. 

(5). Laura Jane, born May 27, 1849, married 
LeRoy Vincent January 18, 1870. Died June 14, 
1871. 

25 



(6). Justin Edwin, only son, born April 13, 
1852, married Carrie Mattocks December 30, 1890. 
They have three children. Upon him and his wife 
came the responsibility of keeping up the family 
home and caring for the aged parents till their death, 
a duty faithftilly and lovingly performed. 

3. Lark, eldest son of John Bird, was born February 
18, 1820. In early life he developed business ability. At 
twelve years of age, at his own earnest request, his father al- 
lowed him to remain out of school that he might spend the 
winter in the woods, driving a yoke of oxen, drawing logs to 
a saw mill. Later in life he loved books and wished a better 
education. He attended several terms of school at the 
Academy at Athens and taught several terms of winter 
school with good success. During one of these winter terms 
two other teachers, Danverse Bourne and Charles B. Riggs, 
met with him one evening each week at the house of Truman 
Beach, upon his invitation, to study together. They also 
organized evening spelling schools, the older members of the 
schools meeting together once in two weeks, or oftener, first 
at one school house ,then the other. Two scholars were se- 
lected to "choose sides," as it was called — one taking posi- 
tion on one side of the room, the other the other side. Each 
leader would call the name of the best speller, or the one he 
or she chose, in rotation, till all were chosen and standing in 
the two lines. The teacher, taking his place in the centre, 
would pronounce a word to one of the leaders, then to the 
opposite one, and so down the line. If a word was missed 
the speller sat down and the opposite side spelled the word. 
All missing the word sat down and the side that stood the 
longest won. No prize was given, but enthusiasm created 
and good spellers the result. 

26 - ' 







o 
o 
a; 

z 

o 

W 



o 

DC 

H 

< 

X 
h 



In time the business of the farm came to rest upon him, 
as his father often said, " Lark is the one to live with me and 
have this farm. That has always been my plan and I shall 
have no other." He accepted the trust. October 20, 1858 
he married Nancy L. Niles, born in Halifax, Vt., 
December 19, 1828, and brought her into his 
father's home to share with him the responsibilities 
of caring for his aged parents and dependent 
sister Mary. His youngest brother John still remained 
sharing in the work and financial interests of the farm. 
December 27, 1864, John married and brought his wife into 
the home. March, 1866, Lark bought out John's interest 
in the farm and John moved to his own home. Lark made 
many improvements on the place, rebuilding the saw-mill 
and adding a grist mill in 1867. That proved a success, for 
the first year he ground over 3000 bushels of com and buck- 
wheat for feeding purposes. Both mills ceased doing busi- 
ness years ago. In 1878 he built the large and commodious 
barn now upon the place, minus the silos. They have since 
been added by his son George. In 187 1 he became a Chris- 
tian and united with the Congregational Church. After- 
wards he transferred his membership to the Baptist Church. 
In both churches he was known, not as a talker of religion, 
but a doer. Generous to give money in all departments of 
church work, he was made Trustee, and financial re- 
sponsibilities placed upon him. 

Having been a strong Republican in politics and always 
a believer in temperance, after the Civil War, when the Na- 
tional government had placed a tax upon the manufacture 
and sale of liquor for revenue purposes, he was led to study 
the question not only from a business, but a moral stand- 
point. Seeing much of the evil effects of strong drink and 

27 



believing the license system to be wrong, in 1885 he became 
a prohibitionist. For his fidelity to what he believed to be 
right, he suffered censure and abuse from the liquor men, 
even to threats of personal violence. He feared not nor 
swerved from his ideas of duty. He became much inter- 
ested in the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance 
Union, and did all in his power for its advancement in the 
county. 

September 12, 1883, his oldest son George married Fran- 
ces O. Rowe, who came into the home to live. Lark at once 
resigned to him the title and management of the affairs of 
the farm, after making suitable provision for himself and wife 
and son Jesse. His interest and activities in all that per- 
tained to the welfare and happiness of the home never 
ceased while his strength lasted. In 1892 his health failed, 
and after months of suffering he died February 22, 1894. 
During the last weeks of his life he spoke often of the great 
questions of the day in which he had been interested. With 
great earnestness he said, "Standing as I do now in the 
light of the eternal world, I see more and more clearly the 
iniquity of the liquor trafic and the sin of voting for it, and 
I wish it to be known I die a Prohibitionist." His faith in 
God's presence and love was very strong. Many were the 
prayers he offered for his family, the church, and all forms 
of Christian work. As a result of one of these seasons of de- 
votion in his room, his youngest son Jesse was led to ask 
forgiveness of his sins, and arose from his knees a Christ- 
ian man. Inscribed upon his tombstone are his last words, 
" The best of all — God is with me." They had two children. 

(i). George Niles, eldest son of Lark and Nancy 
Niles Bird, was born June 29, i860. His taste was 
for a farm life and the home of his ancestors. On 

28 



m 




a: 
< 



z 

o 

bi 
en 

^-^ 

O 

X 



pi 
< 

h 
z 

w 

w 
a: 



September 12, 1883, he married Frances 0., daugh- 
ter of Richard Rowe, and brought her into the 
"Bird home." His father having given to him a 
deed of the place, in 1888, in compliance with a long- 
time wish of his father's, as well as his own and his 
wife's desire, he built the large and commodious 
house pictured in this history and occupying the 
same spot of ground as the one built by his grand- 
father, John Bird, in 1827. His health failing him, 
and feeling he could no longer do the work required 
on the place, in 1898 he leased the farm, still retain- 
ing ownership and supervision and moved to the 
village of East Smithfield, where he is now, in 
1904, conducting a dry goods and grocery store. 
He has two children; Richard Lark, born April 
23, 1885, Helen Frances, born December 11, 1892. 
He, with his wife and daughter, are members of the 
Baptist Church. 

(2). Jesse Sumner, second son of Lark Bird, bom 
May 2nd, 1865. He did not choose life on the 
farm. After spending two years in Susquehanna 
Collegiate Institute at Towanda, he entered War- 
ner's Business College in Elmira, N. Y. Graduated 
July 22, 1887. In August he engaged as book- 
keeper with the firm of Whitehill & Cleveland, man- 
ufacturers of overalls and men's clothing. New- 
burgh, N. Y. September 24. 1890, he married 
Frances Drew, of Newburgh, and moved to Al- 
liance, Ohio, where he was engaged in the same 
business until the fall of 1896, he removed to 
Utica, X. Y., and became manager of The River- 
side Manufacturing Co., where he remained until he 

29 



became senior partner of the firm of "Bird, Jones 
& Kenyon," Utica, N. Y., January ist, 1904. 
They manufacture Workingmen's Clothing. He 
has no children. He and his wife are members 
of the Presbyterian Church. 

4. Orpheus King, born June 28, 1822. He remained in 
his father's home till March 17, 1847, when he married 
Anna, daughter of James Gerould, and moved to the farm 
adjoining upon the West. In April, 1850, he left New 
York for California, by way of the Isthmus of Panama, to 
meet his brother Harry, only to find on his arrival that his 
brother had died in January preceding, He returned in 
1 85 1. His life was given wholly to farming, including the 
dairy and stock-raising, in which he was successful. His 
farm adjoining his father's, for many years their interests 
were almost identical, he and his brother Lark working 
much of the time together, ' 'changing work". During the 
winter season Orpheus and his hired men would work in 
the woods with Lark and his help, cutting and drawing logs 
to the saw-mill, and the one hundred cords of firewood. 
Lark's usual supply, his own in addition. The spring- 
time found Orpheus working in the saw-mill, from which he 
took lumber necessary for building a large house, large 
barns, and for other farm uses. The summer time found 
them haying, harvesting and threshing together, an arrange- 
ment profitible for both. 

He died April 3, 1883. His wife Amna Bird died Oct. i, 
1891. They had two children, 

(i) Arlette, born Nov. 19, 1847. She married 
Sterling Campbell of Smithfield, November 9, 1871. 
Died April 14, 1884. They had four children. 

30 



(2). Harry Lewis, born May 26, 1854. He mar- 
ried Anna Belle Kendall Sept. 9, 1879, -^^^^ brought 
her in-to his father's home, where they remained 
till after the death of both his parents. March 4, 
1893, he removed to Elmira, N. Y. In Sept. 1893, 
only six months after their removal to Elmira, his 
daughter Reva was attacked with diphtheria and 
died Sept. 11, on her eighth birthday. Harry 
brought her body to Smithfield for burial, was at- 
tacked with the same disease the day of his return, 
and died Sept. 21, 1893. His wife removed to Bur- 
lington. Pa., where she now resides with her son 
Manley G. Bird. His daughter Blanche has been 
for some years a nurse in a hospital in New Jersey. 

5. Harry Lewis, son of John Bird, born May 24, 1825. 
He chose to be a scholar. He spent some time in a Univer- 
sity in Lima, N. Y., and became a successful teacher. He 
taught four years at Lewellyn, Pennsylvania. While teach- 
ing in Lewellyn, the gold mines of California were discover- 
ed, and he with others was attacked with the gold fever. 
In company with a friend, Charles Cockell, he left Lewellyn 
in February ,1849, for Independence, Mo., where large num- 
bers of men were meeting to arrange for their trip across 
the plains and almost trackless deserts. April 24, 1849, 
they left Independence, enroute to the gold fields of Cali- 
fornia. They took the overland route. There were fifty 
men in the company, armed with rifles, guns, knives and 
revolvers, with which to kill the wild animals for food and 
resist the attacks of the Indians. In wagons drawn by 
mules they packed flour, corn meal, sugar, coffee, rice and 
dried fruits, with blankets and cooking utensils, each man 
except the drivers riding a pony. 

31 



The trip proved more disastrous than they expected. 
Horses and mules died from hunger and thirst, sometimes 
being thirty-six hours without water and on the sandy 
plains, with heat so intense they were compelled to travel 
nights and camp in the daytime. From Fort Laramie to 
Salt Lake City he walked 510 miles. There the company 
decided to sell their wagons and pack their provisions on 
mules. He bought a horse for one hundred dollars. In a 
letter he said ,' ' When I came to look at m}^ provisions, I 
found I had only 39 lbs. of flour, 12 lbs. of bacon, no sugar 
nor coffee, and 867 miles to travel. This I thought a small 
allowance, but fate reduced it still lower, for the Mormon 
thieves stole all my bacon. But I had my rifle and I knew 
it would never let me starve." His horse died and he was 
compelled to walk 350 miles to reach Sacramento City, Cal., 
August 5. 

The weather being too hot to enter the mines, he com- 
menced cutting hay which was worth $80 a ton. He paid 
$80 for a scythe, $10 for a pitchfork, $8 for a rake. Flour 
was $10 per cwt., pork $30 per cwt., sugar 25 cents a 
pound, rice 10 cents a pound, dried apples $30 a bushel. 
He did his own cooking and slept on the ground under a 
tree at night, where he once lay ten days sick, with no one 
to care for him but the Indians to bring him water. In 
November he built a log cabin at the mines, preparatory 
to digging gold, when he was again taken sick, with no one 
but strangers around him, and died January 19, 1850. 

Ten days before his death he received his first letters 
from home, by way of San Francisco, two packages con- 
taining six letters. He paid postage and the charge of de- 
livery to him was $5.20. A single copy of a paper from 
the states cost him $2.00. Such were the trials of the 

32 



early gold seekers in California. 

6. Eliza, born June 29, 1828, married Alford Brace of 
Springfield, March 27, 1850. Died January 9, 1894. 
Alford Brace died Oct. 30, 1896. They had two children. 

(i). Angie, born May 16, 1853, married Charles 
McCabe of Troy, March 11, 1874. They have six 
children. 

(2). George, born August 16, 1862, married Ida 
H. Brown, December 25, 1884. She died Feb. 23, 
1903. They had four children. 

7. Laura, born Aug. 13, 1830, married James Bosworth 
of LeRaysville, Dec. 14, 1858. She was a member of the 
Congregational Church. Died Jan. i, 1891. James Bos- 
worth died Jan. 16, 1899. They had two children, 

(1). Martin Bird, born Dec. 23, 1859, married 
Ella Frisbie, Sept. 24, 1884. They have one child. 
He, Martin, is a wholesale produce merchant at 
Seattle, Wash. 

(2). Nelson, born Apr. 14, 1861, married Jessie 
Wells, Feb. 11, 1891. Lives at Oxford, Pa. Has 
no children. 

8. Jane, born Nov. 10, 1832, married to John Pease of 
Williamson, Wayne Co., N. Y.,Feb. 18, 1857, and removed 
there, where she died, Oct. 4, 1900. She was a devoted 
Christian. With all the members of her family she was 
a member of the Baptist Church in Williamson. She lived 
beloved and died lamented. They had two children. 

(i). Charles Bird, born Dec. 6, 1857, married 
Jane Belden, Sept. 22, 1886. They have one 
child. He is a successful farmer at Ontario, N. Y. 

(2). May, born Jan. 14, 1869. For several years 
she was a successful school teacher, active in 

33 



Church, S. S. and W. C. T. U. work, but since her 
mother's death she has been her father's devoted 
housekeeper and companion. 

9. John, born Apr. 28, 1S36. He was not as strong 
physically as his brothers, yet when not in school, was al- 
ways assisting in the work of the farm all that 
his strength would allow. In the fall of 1857, 
partly for his health and partly for pleasure, he 
went South and spent the winter in the home 
of his cousin, Loren Morse, at Midway, Ga. It was a new 
experience to a Northern young man to be met in the hall 
by the colored servants with the whispered plea, ' ' Massa 
please tell me the name of this letter, and what is this 
word," and to know he could not comply with the request 
without breaking the law of the state. He also witnessed 
the brutal whipping of the slaves upon the bare back for 
minor offences. He reported these in an article written 
for the Mental LMminary," a monthly paper read before 
the Literary Society of Smithfield. This experience only 
intensified the strong anti-slavery sentiments taught him 
by his father and cultivated by reading the ' ' New York 
Tribune," edited by Horace Greely. When during the Civil 
War President Lincoln called for Emergency Volunteers to 
repel Gen. Lee's attack upon Pennsylvania, he with a large 
company of Smithfield young men enlisted and went to 
Harrisburg. They were absent only three months, as Gen. 
Lee was driven from the state. 

He married Martha J., daughter of Augustus Phelps, 
Dec. 27, 1864, and brought her into his father's home, where 
they remained till April 1866, he sold out his interest in 
the home farm to his brother Lark and purchased another 
and removed to it. In 1878, when the Dakota wheat fields 

34 



gave promise of great wealth, he, Uke others, was attacked 
with the Western fever. Not deeming it advisable to re- 
move his family West without first exploring the country 
himself, he disposed of his farm, arranged for his family in 
Smithfield, and spent nearly three years in Dakota and 
Montana. Finding that he preferred life in the East, he 
returned to Smithfield and in due time bought a small farm 
near the village where he now resides. His time has been 
given mostly to agriculture, yet by the popular vote he has 
held several township offices, once being assessor for ten 
consecutive years. In 1899 he united with the Congre- 
gational Church where his wife and daughters were mem- 
bers. He has six children. 

(i). Alford Carlton, born July 23, 1867, married 
Addie Hamilton, of Smithfield, Feb. 11, 1892. He 
was a merchant and post master six years in Bur- 
lington, Pa. Now is a merchant at Cooper's Plains, 
N. Y. Has no children. 

(2). Augustus Phelps, born Aug. 17, 1869, mar- 
ried Ida Barnard, at Deer Lodge, Montana, in 1895, 
and lives at Butte, Montana. Has one son. 

(3). Edward Payson, born Nov. 17, 1872, mar- 
ried Carolyn Congdon, of Owego, X. Y., Oct. 5, 
1898 and lives at Amity ville. Long Island. Has no 
children. For eight years he has been an attend- 
ant and musician in the Long Island Home. 

(4). Martha Jane, born Jan. 16, 1876. For 
twelve years she has been a successful teacher, first 
in the graded school in Smithfield, the past five 
years at Athens. 

(5). Clarissa Phelps, born June 9, 1877, and 
(6). Grace Antoinette, born June 10, 1880, both 
remaining in the home. 

35 



10. Mary, youngest child of John and Mary Bird, 
born Apr. 29, 1840, died June 27, 1897. 



III. ELIZA ABIGAIL, born in Rutland, Vermont, Sept. 
12, 1797. Married Ziba Gerould in Smithfield, Nov. 25, 
1 81 6. She was of a gentle, loving disposition, with a 
smile for everybody, — her husband the same. They estab- 
lished a true Christian home, where God was worshipped 
and where friends delighted to visit. Both were members 
of the Disciple Church, faithful in attedance and in the 
performance of every duty. They realized the truth of the 
Proverb, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and 
when he is old he will not depart from it." Their eight 
children all became useful members of society, honored and 
respected by all, and Christians who were faithful in all good 
works. 

Ziba Gerould died Feb. 8, 1871, aged 78 years. After 
his death she was kindly cared for by her son Clayton and 
his wife, until her death, March 4, 1886, aged 89 years. 
They had eight children, 

I. Sophia, born Nov. 16, 181 7. Married Lewis Wood, 
Apr. i6, 1840, in Smithfield, where their lives were spent. 
They were members of the Disciple Church, living consist- 
ent Christian lives. Their example was followed by all 
their children, who became members of the same church. 
She died Dec. 24, 1893. They had seven children, six liv- 
ing, one dying in infancy. 

(i). Sarah, born Jan. 29, 1841, married George 
Bennet, lives in Smithfield. Has three children. 

(2). Phebe, born March 6, 1843, married Way- 
land Andrus — history given elsewhere. 

36 



(3). Eunice Gcraldine, born Dec. 15, 1845, mar- 
ried Elton M. Durfey in Smithficld, where she died 
Feb. 7, 1875. Had two children. 

(4). Mary Sophia, born Aug. 3, 1851, married 
John Cleveland of Smithfield. Has three children 
living. 

(5). Ezra Ziba, born Apr. 9. 1853, married 
Amelia Dubert, lives in Elmira, N. Y. Has no 
children. 

(6). Nellie Kezia, born Apr. 13, 1857, married 
Charles Pierce and lives in Smithfield. Has three 
children living. 

2. Louisa, born July 24, 1820, married Jesse Sumner, 
Nov. 21, 1 84 1, and record given in Sumner History. 

3. Betsey, born Aug. 21, 1822, married Jesse Bullock, 
Oct. 22, 1851, and removed to Canton, Pa., w^here she died 
June 22, 1890, leaving one son, 

(i). Charles E. Bullock, born Dec. 16, 1858. Is 
a lawyer at Canton, Pa. Married and has four 
children. 

4. Lewis Bird, born March 31, 1824, married Marion 
Wright Dec. 8, 1847. She died Aug. 18, 1858. They had 
four chiidren, 

(i). Alice M. born Sept. 19, 1848, died May 11, 
1904. Never married. 

(2). Anna E. bom Oct. 15, 1851, unmarried, 
lives at St. Paul, Minn. 

(3). Clara W. born Jan. 7, 1853, married Joel 
Harris of Smithfield. Has four children. 

(4). Elizabeth, bom Jan. 15, 1855, married Edgar 
A. Wood. Lives at Payette, Idaho. Has four chil- 
dren. 

37 



Lewis Bird Gerould married Mary Ellen Tracy, Feb. 15, 
i860. They had three children, . 

(i). Charles T. born May 9, 1861, died Oct. 6, 
1896. Left two children. 

(2). Eddie A. born Nov. 16, 1864, married and 
lives in Smithfield, a farmer. Has two children. 

(3). Marion F. born July 21, 1868. Died Nov. 
14, 1891. 
Lewis Bird Gerould died June 18, 1888. 

5. Phebe, born March 14, 1829. Married T. J. Weed, 
M. D., June 16, 1847. They had two children. 

(i). Merritt, born Sept. 30. 1848, died June 24, 
1 90 1. Had three children. 

(2). Marion E., born Dec. 22, 1850. Married 
and lives in Chicago. Has one child. 
Phebe married Rev. Joel Hendrick, May 12, 1854. He 
was a pastor of the Baptist Church fifty years, seven years 
principal of Genesee Valley Seminary at Belfast, Alleghany 
Co., N. Y. He died April 11, 1905, at Montour Falls, N. Y. 
They had one child. 

(i). J. Welland Hendrick, born Aug. 21, 1858. 
Married and lives In New York City. Is a teacher 
in the N. Y. Training School for teachers. Has 
two children. 

6. Henry M., born in East Smithfield, Apr. 26, 1831, 
married Caroline A. Blackman, Jan. 21, 1855. Lives at 
West McHenry, Illinois. Has one child, 

(i). Maud S., born Oct. 13, 1855. Married and 
has three children. 

7. Clayton, born Oct. 28, 1835, married Georgianna De 
Groff, June 13, 1867. Lives in Smithfield on the father's 
farm. United with the Disciple Church in early life, has 

38 



been a consistent Christian man and helpful to the best in- 
terests of the community. A lover of music, a teacher of 
singing schools, and a leader of the choir of his own church 
many years, he will long be remembered as one often call- 
ed upon to lead the singing at funerals, social gatherings 
and public entertainments. He has seven children, 

(i). Eliza Bird, born Feb. 20, 1868, married 
Peter Knudson and lives in North Dakota. Has 
one child. 

(2). Susan Jane, born June 5, 1869, married Von 
Nichols, lives in Smithfield. Has five children. 
(3). Herman Lowman, born Nov. 21, 1872. Is 

a butter maker, married Lena Thompson Nov. 23, 
1904. 

(4). Bessie B., born Feb. 18, 1874, married 
Truman Gerould, lives at Athens. Has seven chil- 
dren. 

(5). Merritt, born March 29, 1876. 

(6). Lewis Henry, born Oct. 2, 1880. Is a drug- 
gist. Graduated from the Pennsylvania State 
School of Pharmacy. 

(7). Jesse Owen, born Oct. 19, 1S87. Living in 
the home. 

8. Jane Eliza, youngest child of Eliza and Ziba Gerould, 
bom Oct. 15, 1 841, married Diton Phelps, Dec. 27, 1865. 
Died in Kansas July 21, 1878. Left no children. 

IV. HARRY LEWIS, second son of Michael Bird, was 
born in Rutland, Vt., Sept. 30, 1800. Being less than one 
year old when the family moved to Pennsylvania, he had 
no personal recollection of their early trials. He said, 

39 



' ' At my earliest recollection there was a more comfortable 
home, some fields in crops, hogs, cattle and fowls, and so 
comparative comfort." 

He often related to his children his first shooting a deer, 
' ' I was six years old when a deer came into the garden which 
was near. I could not hold up the gun to shoot, so rested 
it on the shoulder of my sister Eliza, and I got the deer." 

School privileges were few. There was no public money 
to pay teachers or buy books. All expenses must be paid 
by the parents. The books and methods of teaching were 
not to be compared with those of to-day. Webster's Spell- 
er, The American Precentor, Daboll's Arithmetic and The 
English Reader, were about all of the school books then in 
use. The New Testament also was used as a reading book 
in the schools. He desired an education and was willing to 
work for it. After obtaining what he could in the schools 
and from books within his reach, in his young manhood 
days, in 182 1, he with David Farnsworth, Bulkley Tracey 
and Ansel Scott, formed a literary society and went once a 
week for three years to take lessons in Grammar and other 
studies of Dr. Darius Bullock, who came from Halifax, Vt., 
and settled in Smithfield as a doctor. They improved 
their evenings and spare t'me during the week in studying 
and recited to the Doctcr. He had enjoyed greater ad- 
vantages in the East, and became a prominent man in the 
town and county — in social, religious, educational and polit- 
ical affairs. His influence inspired those young men and 
others during his life to higher aspirations and nobler think- 
ing. He died in Smithfield Nov. 15, 1877. The young 
man Harry became a school teacher. Where or when he 
taught his first school is not now known. About 1826 he 
taught several terms near Syracuse, N. Y., supposed to be 

40 



at Salina. He also taught at Horseheads, N. Y. The 
father, Michael, having given up the control of the busi- 
ness of the farm to his two sons, John and Harry, John 
being eight years older, always remained at home, having 
married and with a family of his own. Harry was equally 
interested, and except when teaching, always at work upon 
the farm, living in his brother John's family. 

Oct. 4, 1829, Harry married Eliza, daughter of James 
Martin and niece of Dr. Darius Bullock. She was bom in 
Halifax, Vt., Feb. 24, 181 1, and removed with her parents 
to Pennsylvania in 1820. She was a woman of exception- 
al ability, with natural qualifications for a high place in 
society. Her father purchased a farm just over the line 
in Springfield. It was long known as the Martin farm, 
and is now occupied by Lyman Harkness. Although in 
Springfield township their associations, social and religious, 
were in Smithfield. Harry and wife lived in a part of the 
house built by John in 1827 until a new house was built 
for Harry on the East side of the road a few rods distant, 
where he lived till about 1837, when John bought out 
Harry's interest in the farm. Harry then purchased seven- 
ty acres two miles South of Smithfield Centre, since known 
as the Pierce farm, and remained there until 1844. During 
that time, with his brother-in-law, Dr. Daniel Andrus, who 
lived one mile North, between his farm and the village, 
he erected a saw mill on the Tom Jack Creek on the Andrus 
place. He also purchased a twenty-five acre tract adjoin- 
ing, partly covered with timber, which it was intended 
would supply the mill, and it did, in part. This investment 
did not prove a success. Lumber was cheap. The hard 
times of 1845 ^^^ '6 came on and to meet the expense of 
building and running the mill, with the indebtedness of 

41 



both places, proved more than he could bear. He sold 
the Pierce farm m 1844, moved to his twenty-five acre lot 
and remained two years, when his honesty and upright 
purpose to pay every dollar of his indebtedness led him 
to sell all. With only a small amount left, in 1846 he 
moved his family to his father-in-law's, the Martin home 
in Springfield, remaining there two years. While living 
on the Pierce farm, he taught several terms of winter school, 
boarding at home. One of these was at Smithfield Center, 
another at Pumpkin hill on the turnpike, one mile west of 
his home. That was his twentieth term of school teaching. 
While living in the Martin home he taught one term at the 
Ira Bullock school house near. He used every opportunity 
offered to earn money to support his fast increasing family. 
In 1848 he moved to a farm on the North road leading 
to Milan, and in the fall of 1850 he purchased of his brother- 
in-law, Selden Tracy, a farm in Sweden, Potter County, 
Pa., about seventy-five miles West, and removed his family, 
consisting of his wife and ten children, to a new home. 
Here a brighter future awaited him. In the winter of 
1850 and '51 his oldest son, Lucien, taught a school at $14 
per month; Harriet, the oldest daughter, another at $7; 
and Ellen, another daughter, one at $6. As was then the 
custom all boarded around. He gave all his children the 
best opportunity he could to get an education, and all 
save one became teachers to a greater or less extent. 

After their removal to Potter County, two children were 
born to them. Theirs was an ideal home, where God was 
always honored and obeyed. Every child became a Chris- 
tian and in time Church and Sunday School workers. 
The oldest son, Lucien, gives this testimony: "I cannot re- 
member when there was no family worship at our house 

42 



every morning, and a blessing asked at table, and we 
children taken to Church and Sunday School. The 
Sabbath was carefully observed, and I have no knowledge 
of any ordinary work being done on Sunday, except on 
one occasion — we worked a part of the day on the North 
road to secure some wheat that was sprouting on account 
of a long wet spell. The records of the Congregational 
Church in Smithfield will doubtless show that Harry Bird 
was disciplined. He never told me he was sorry, but said, 
'Next time I guess I would not do it.' To the Church he 
said,' If I have done wrong I am sorry for it.' This con- 
fession, with his well known Christian character, sufficed 
to quiet the grieved feelings of the deacon, and he was not 
excluded. The fact was that Sunday was the only day 
to save that wheat, for the next day it rained." 

His wife, Eliza Martin, became a Christian in early life. 
She gave her highest thought and constant effort to the 
welfare of her children, who cheerfully bear testimony to 
her faithful teachings, beautiful example and unfailing love. 
It was her influence, in great measure, that led them all 
to the Christian life in early years. She died in Sweden, 
Feb. 29, 1S60. 

Several of the children having married and gone to 
homes of their own, he remained with others and kept up 
the family home till 1868, when he went to his son Lucien's 
in Penfield, Pa. Here his love for teaching school again 
asserted itself. He taught several terms in Elk Co., Pa., 
and in the early 70's returned to Smithfield for a visit and 
taught a winter term of district school near Bulkley Tracy's 
The writer well remembers his visits that winter in his 
brother John's family, as he came to stay over Sunday 
with us. So bright and genial was he in his nature and 

43 



conversation that no one would have thought him to be 
past seventy years of age. 

About 1874 he returned to his farm in Sweden, where 
he remained till his death, March 19, 1878. 

We cannot close this record without adding other items 
of interest. If not gifted in money making, he was in that 
which is far better, in Christian work. He became a 
Chirstian in early life and a member of the Congregational 
Church in Smithfield. When the first Sunday School was 
organized in that Church in 1830, he became an active 
worker as teachar and assistant superintendant till his 
removal to Potter County, in 1850. 

In the early settlement of Bradford County, great ignor- 
ance prevailed in regard to the use of alcoholic drinks. 
They were thought to be an absolute necessity — a panacea 
for all ills. The man who built a distillery was considered 
a public benefactor. It furnished a market for grain and 
cheapened a necessary article to the consumer. It was no 
offense to make, sell or use it. Deacons in the Church 
manufactured and sold it, the elders drank it, and church 
members frequently became intoxicated. Every tavern 
had its bar, but a saloon was unknown. The county was 
soon dotted over with distilleries. From a point of a hill 
in Wyalusing, five distilleries could be counted in full blast 
at one time. Whiskey was the currency of the country — 
the standard of value. Things were bought to be paid for 
in whiskey. Men worked for so much whiskey a day. 
Mary, wife of John Bird, said to the writer, " When we 
built this house in 1827, we had a barrel of whiskey standing 
in the hall, and we thought it no harm to treat our friends 
to it when they came in to spend the evening with us." 
Her son Lark added, " When I was a little boy and our folks 

44 



had company in the evening, I always Hked to go to the 
table next morning and eat the sugar from the bottom of 
the tumblers they had their whiskey punch in." 

In the early thirties an interest for total abstinence was 
awakened in Bradford County. Some of the best men 
gave it their support. Lecturers traversed every locality, 
gaining many pledges for total abstinence. It became a 
subject for discussion in Smithfield. 

Six men, Harry L. Bird being one of them, formed a 
Temperance Society. A total abstinence pledge was writ- 
ten in a book and persons asked to sign it. An elderly man 
of to-day says, "I remember Harry Bird coming to my 
father's and getting my father to sign that pledge. At 
one time they had three hundred names in that book." 
Lucien, his oldest son, says, "As soon as I could write my 
name, mv father required me to sign a temperance pledge 
written on a blank leaf of an old bible." John Bird and 
his family became total abstainers, and that whiskey barrel 
went out. In later years all members of the Bird family 
have been known as opponents of the liquor trafhc. 

This was the beginning of the temperance movement in 
Smithfield, followed in later years by the Sons of Temper- 
ance, the Good Templars, the W. C. T. U. and the Prohibi- 
tionists, aided by the co-operation of pastors and churches , 
as well as other organizations for the law's enforcement. 

They had twelve children. 

I. Harriet Louisa, born in Smithfield, Apr. 8, 1831. 
She was an exceptionally bright student and became a 
successful teacher in Bradford County, and later in Potter 
County Pa., and Wellesville, N. Y. She ever seemed uncon- 
scious of possessing great personal beauty and a brilliant 
intellect, so modest was her manner. Married Brainerd 

45 



Bowen of Troy, Pa., Apr. 24, 1853. A Christian in early 
life, she united with the Presbyterian Church in Troy. 
Died Dec. 30, 1859. Left no children. 

2. Henry Lucien, born in Smithfield Apr. 8, 1833. He 
was a strong vigorous boy, and has led an active life. Im- 
proving every opportunity to obtain an education, he be- 
came a school teacher in early life. Being the oldest boy, 
a considerable share of responsibility for the family has 
fallen to him, especially during the years of poverty that 
were experienced in his early manhood. In keeping 
younger members of the family, he has made great personal 
sacrifices. He learned land surveying as being more re- 
munerative than teaching and for many years was the "Sur- 
veyor" in Potter, and to some extent, in adjoining Coun- 
ties. For the last twenty years he has spent several 
months each year as surveyor and agent in Tennessee for 
the large land and mineral holdings of New York and 
Philadelphia capitalists. 

April 7, 1856, he married E. Zelvina Eld, of Maryland. 
She has truly been a helpmeet in founding an ideal Chris- 
tian home, full of good works in the Church and commu- 
nity. After his marriage, he and his wife united with the 
Presbyterian Church at Ulysses, Pa. He has been a Chris- 
tian man in his own home, training his children in the prin- 
ciples of the Christian religion, has been active in Church 
and Sunday School work as a teacher or superintendent in 
Potter, Elk, Cameron and Clearfield Counties. His resi- 
dence for thirty-four years has been in Penfield, Smith- 
field Co., Pa., where he is known as surveyor, real estate 
and insurance agent. 

He has had five children. 

46 



(i). Albert Allen, born in Brookland, Potter 
County, Aug. i6, 1857. After graduating from the 
High School in Penfield, he spent one year at Mans- 
field Normal School, two years at an Academy in 
Franklin, X. Y., four years at LaFayette College, 
Easton, Pa., three years at Union Theological Sem- 
inary, N. Y. City. Graduated in 1887, and was or- 
dained and installed as pastor of the Presbyterian 
Church at Houtzdale, Pa., the same year, where he 
remained four and one half years. Then was pas- 
tor at Wilcox, Pa., for twelve years. Now pastor 
at the Presbyterian Church at Juniata, Blair Co., 
Pa. His wife was Mildred V. Taylor, of Edinboro, 
Pa., married Oct. 16, 1889. They have four chil- 
dren. 

(2). Alice Eliza, bom in Brookland, Potter Co., 
Pa., June 22, 1861. Educated in the public schools 
of Penfield, spent two years at the Edinboro State 
Normal School, and eighteen months in training and 
practice in the Nev/ York Hospital preparing to be 
a Foreign Missionary. She went to India in 1888. 
She married Rev. Henry Forman at Lodiana, India, 
March 28, 1889. During her seven years of mis- 
sionary life, she and her husband spent ten months 
in the home-land. They did much for missions 
while here, and through her influence two of her 
young lady friends entered the mission field and are 
doing good work in India at the present time. She 
died at Agra, India, Jan. 21,1 896. Left no children. 

(3). Kate Ellen (Nellie), born in Brookland, 
Jan. 6, 1864. She took the highest grade in what- 
ever was taught in the Penfield High School, and 

47 



graduated in the State Normal School at Edinboro. 
Since then she has been her father's assistant in his 
office at Penfield. Is an active worker in Church 
and Sunday School, being for many years Corre- 
sponding Secretary of the Clearfield County S. S. or- 
ganization. 

(4). May, born at Brookland, May 4, 1866. She 
had the advantage of a good education and after grad- 
uating from the Penfield High School and Edinboro 
Normal School, became a teacher, and was-remarkably 
successful. For some years she taught in the Edin- 
boro Normal School, Kane High School, and other 
positions. She gave much attention to music, and 
after her health broke down and she was forced to 
abandon teaching school, she became a teacher of 
music. She united with the Presbyterian Church at 
the age of nine, and was an active worker until her death, 
teaching the Men's Bible Class, was organist in the 
Church, and active in the Christian Endeavor Society. 
Owing to her failing health she went to Buffalo, N. Y., 
for an operation, which was performed January 28, 
1905. She died in Lexington Heights Hospital, 
Buffalo, February 2, 1905. 

(5). Addie Dent, born in Emporia, Pa., September 
26, 1870. Died at Penfield, Pa., August 18, 1871. 

3. Lydia Ellen, born in Smithfield, August 23, 1834. Be- 
came a Christian in early life. In 1850 she removed with her 
parents to Potter County, and taught a winter term of school 
at $6.00 per month. She was married to Jasper M. Spafford, 
January 5, 1864. Soon after her marriage physical infirmi- 
ties confined her mostly to her home, but her Christain char- 
acter enabled her ever to maintain a cheerful happy manner — 

48 



and to make her home a delight and a joy to a wide circle of 
relatives and acquaintances. She died October 27, 1898. 
Left no children. 

4. James Weston, born September 5, 1836. A bright, 
cheery lad, a happy young man, gaining the love of all who 
knew him. Became a Christain in early life and maintained 
a strong Christian character to the end. Was a successful 
teacher for many years. Rev. Joel Hendrick, Principal of 
Genesee Valley Seminary at Belfast, N. Y., gives this testi- 
mony: "Weston Bird came to my assistance at my solicita- 
tion September i, 1865. I had had two different men in the 
place he occupied before him, one a graduate of Brown Univer- 
sity, the other of Rochester University, but he filled the 
place better than either of them, and more satisfactorily to 
the public generally." 

In January, 1866, he married Elizabeth Parker, the lady 
principal of the same school, and removed later to Knoxville, 
Illinois, where he taught for many years and where his wife 
died, April 26, 1870. They had two children, 
(i). A daughter, dying in infancy. 
(2). Harlan M., born August 23, 1868. Married 
Elizabeth Merchant, June 6, 1901. Is a successful 
lawyer at Marinette, Wis. Has one child. 
Weston's second wife was Sarah Louise Whitney, of Deer- 
field, Oneida County, N. Y., whom he married December 23, 
1872. She died at Knoxville, 111., January' 26, 1877. They 
had two children. 

(3). Florence Ellen (Flossie), born April 13, 1874, 
died May 14, 1876. 

(4). Clara, bom July 21, 1875. Married Dr. Wm. 
Sellars, of Milwaukee, Wis., June 21, 1899. Has three 
children. 

49 



Weston married Evelyn Twitchell, Jan. 8, 1879, 
who survives him. They had one child. 

(5). Born January 6, 1883, died November 19, 
1883. 

Weston died March 30, 1900. 
5. Harlan Page, born in Smithfield August 2, 1838. In 
common with others of the family, his school privileges were 
few — but the "home atmosphere" ever tended to reading and 
practical education. At a very early age, he too, like the 
older brothers and sisters, taught school, but soon took up 
book-keeping, on account of better pay. He went "West," 
and from Wisconsin enlisted as a volunteer, serving four years 
in the civil war. He gained some distinction in the army — 
was wounded in the advance rifle pits at Vicksburg — served 
nearly two years on the staff of Division and Corps Comman- 
ders. Of himself he says: " I well earned the First Lieuten- 
ant's Commission given me, and should have received higher 
rank, had I not been wholly without acquaintance in the 
State." 

January 19th, 1869, he married Sarah Jane, the daughter of 
Rev. John Fairchild, at Marinette, Wis. Four children 
blessed this union. 

(i). " Our Birdie," a beautiful boy, born November 
9th, 1869, died in infancy. 

(2). Harry Lewis, born October 8, 1870. Is now a 
lawyer in Chicago. Has a wife and three children. 

(3). Laura Edith, born April 2, 1874. Is the 
wife of Wm. H. Dunham, a prominent business man 
of Detroit, Michigan. 

(4). Clarence Weston, born March 22, 1880. His 
life is devoted to music. After preparatory study, he 
was under distinguished teachers in this country for 

50 



five years, and is now engaged in his fifth year under 
the masters of Europe. His profession is Concert 
Piano and Composer. 

Harlan became a Christian in boyhood, and Wisconsin gave 
him abundant opportunity for Christian work. He has been 
heard to say, "As Superintendent of various Sunday Schools 
fully four thousand young people have been influenced by 
me — for good or evil. I know that some of them have become 
Christians." He has assisted in the organization of several 
Presbyterian Churches, and in the erection of at least five 
Presbyterian Church buildings. 

In mercantile pursuits and lumber manufacturing he has 
gained a competence, and is benevolent in its use. One evi- 
dence of this is the establishment of a Public Libran,^ at his 
present home in Wausaukee, with a social department 
attached, for the especial benefit of lumber workmen. He 
has been made President of the State Library Association of 
Wisconsin, as well as several auxiliary societies. 

As an active Republican he has been led into public life — in 
Town, County and State affairs — a member of several State 
Conventions, and the National Convention of 1904. He 
is now a State Senator, and is often referred to by his col- 
leagues and the press as the " honest Senator." 

His contributions to the press on current topics and travels 
are frequent. 

His great sorrow came to him Jan' 28, 1904, in the sud- 

den death of his wife. She was a woman of much refinement 
and great intellectual ability, ever doing unostentatious 
work for her Master. The granite monument that marks her 
resting place publishes " She hath done what she could." Of 
none other could this be more truthfully said. 

51 



6. Sophronia Eliza, born April 6, 1841. She inherited the 
looks and has the firm Christian character of her mother. 
She married Rodney L. White April 4, 1867, and lives at Rou- 
lette, Potter Co., Pa. He died March 22, 1905. Had 
three children. 

(i). Mabel, born July 3, 1869. Married Wm. 
Cool, Apr. 28, 1 89 1. He has been a successful drug- 
gist in Buffalo, N. Y., now lives at Roulette, Pa. Has 
one child. 

(2). Elmer, born Apr. 28, 1871. Married Edith 
Sullivan, Jan. 20, 1890. Died Oct. 18, 1899, leaving 
six children. 

(3). Harry, born Nov. 27, 1872. Married Marie 
Cornell, July 3, 1901. He is a farmer, lives at Coles- 
burg, Pa. 

7. Mary Susan, born Jan. i, 1843, in Smithfield, Pa. Be- 
cause of her good works, she has been named the "Dorcas" 
of the family. She has never married. During the many 
years of her sister Ellen's invalidism, she was her compan- 
ion and in charge of her home, and for Mr. Spafford after 
her sister's death. She is "a mother to everybody who 
needs her." Is active in Church and Sunday School work. 
Present home at Colesburg, Potter Co., Pa. 

8. Orpheus Brainard, born December 11, 1844. He pos- 
sessed musical ability and began playing the organ in S. S. 
when a boy. While studying medicine in Philadelphia in 
1 868, he played the organ for Gov. Pollock's Bible Class. 
After graduating and receiving his diploma as M. D., he prac- 
ticed with good success in Duluth, Wis., and Menominee, 
Mich., where he married Olive A. Chandler, July 12, 1872. He 
could not endure the cold climate of Northern Wisconsin, and 
moved to Germantown, Pa., then to Portland, Oregon, 

52 



where he had good success in his profession. His wife's health 
failing, he sought its restoration in Los Angeles, Cal. There 
she died October 6, 1886. They had two children. 

(i). Clarence Eugene, born February 8, 1876, 
died May 8, 18S0. 

(2). Daisy, born April 12, 1880, died August 7, 
1880. 
Although a good physician, his failure to save the life of his 
wife caused him to abandon his profession and seek a living 
in other ways. He returned to his favorite field, music and 
Sunday School work, adding blackboard pictures and talks. 
In 1887-8, in Providence, Rhode Island, he carried a flexi- 
ble blackboard from school to school, addressing a thousand 
persons each week. 

January i, 1889, he married Sarah Murphy Walker near 
Vineland, N.J. Of late years he has divided his time between 
Ocean Grove, where they had a home, and New York City, 
where he has practiced as an oculist and has been Chief Ex- 
aminer in the International Correspondence School of Music. 
He has written the music for fifty gospel hymns and many an- 
thems. His musical compositions possess great excellence in 
harmony and tender expressions. He has recently published 
the "Family Music Book," 300 pages, most of the music and 
many of the words, his own composition. It has successfully 
passed the ordeal of professional criticism. For the benefit of 
his wife's failing health, in September, 1904, they removed to 
Santa Barbara, Cal. They have one child. 

(3). Sarah Ellen (Essie), born March 21, 1890. 

She is a good student and inherits considerable musical 

ability from her father. 

9. Charles Martin, born in Springfield, January 10, 1847. 

He married Jennie E. Meeker, of New York City, in 1868. 

She died February 28, 1886. They had three children. 

53 



(i). Am}^ Alberta, born in Newark, N. J., December 
7, 1872. Died December 14, 1890. She was a devoted 
Christian, an untiring worker in the Sunday School. 

(2). Minnie Ludlow, born in Stevenson, Mich., 
March 26, 1879. Graduated from the State Normal 
School at White Water, Wis., June 18, 1893, and is now 
a successful teacher at Menominee, Mich. 

(3). Evelyn, born in Menominee August 6, 1883. 
Died September 7, 1884. 

April 25, 1888, Charles married as his second wife, M. 
Kate Billings, born at Beaver Dam, Wis., November 15, 
1857, at Beloit, Wis., where they now reside. They have 
three children. 

(4). Margery Storrs, born in Menominee, Mich., 
July 27, 1890. 

(5). Stanley, born in Wausaukee, Wis., September 
13, 1893, died June 11, 1894. 

(6). Carol Martin, born in Baraboo, Wis., Decem- 
ber 29, 1897. 

Charles was engaged in business with the Prudential Life 
Insurance Co. He is a Christian man, and active in church 
and Sunday School work wherever he lives. Had charge of 
the S. S. at his Church at Beloit, and went three miles into the 
country to conduct a school at 3 p. m. each Sabbath. In all 
his work he is ably assisted by his wife, who teaches a Bible 
class and helps to push the work along. 

10. Albert Zachary, born in Springfield March 27, 1849. 
Taught several terms of school in early life. Married Belle 
Eunson in Menominee, Mich., September 29, 1885, where he 
now resides. Is a successful merchant and helpful to the 
Church of which he is a member. Has two living children. 

54 



(i). Edith Ellen, born September 24, 1887, died 
January 16, 1889. 

(2). Florence Maye, born June 5, i88g. She will 
graduate from the Menominee High School in another 
year, and is developing marked musical ability. 

(3). Elizabeth, born September 25, 1892, died in 
infancy. 

(4). Baby, born January 22, 1895, died in infancy. 

(5). George Mills, born February 26, 1898. 

11. John Seldon, born in Sweden, Potter County, Pa., 
May 31, 1851. He married Sarah N. Ros man March 24, 1880. 
They occupy a part of the farm his father settled in 1851, in 
Sweden, Potter County. He is an earnest Christian, useful 
to the religious work of the town, especially in the Sunday 
School. They have had four children, three now living. 

(i). Nellie, born February 25, 1881. 
(2). Harry Albert, born July 20, 1883, died Feb- 
ruary 6, 1892. 

(3). Charles Jasper, born July 7, 1885. 
(4). John Forman, born June . . , 1893. 

12. Kate, youngest child of Harry Lewis Bird, was born in 
Sweden December 25, 1854. She was a school teacher, a 
faithful member of the Presbyterian Church. She married 
James Carnahan, of Mercer Co., Pa., In 1878, Her health 
failed, they went to California for her benefit in 1882, but she 
lived only a short time. Died March 8, 1883, at Santa Bar 
bara, Cal. Left no children. "Katies" brief life was sun- 
shine and happiness to all who knew her, but especially to the 

older members of the family. 

Note. — Investigations are now in j^rogress. to learn the earl- 
ier historv of the Bird family, which is believed to have been in 
Shropshire, England. The earliest records in this country, places 
the family in Virginia. The name has been spelled Byrde and 
Byrd, in earlier times. It is hoped that the results of these search- 
es' can be added to these "sketches" hereafter. 

55 



V. LAURA, born in Smithfield May 4, 1808, married Dr. 
Daniel Andrus, January 26, 1826. She was a noble Christian 
woman, cheerful and happy in disposition, a friend to every- 
body and loved by all. Her father, Michael Bird, found lov- 
ing care in her home during the last years of his life. Theirs 
was a Christian home. When the writer was a child but ten 
years of age, she first knew her in her home and loved her 
daughter Fanny with a love that has never grown cold, and 
when she entered the Bird family in 1858, her love for "Aunt 
Laura" increased with the years. She and her husband. Dr. 
Daniel Andrus, were members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, but none of their Church services being near, they 
were constant attendants, with their family, of the Congrega- 
tional Church at the Centre, the Dr. being Assistant Superin- 
tendent of the Sunday School for many years. 

He died July 22, 1859. After his death she lived with her 
son Wayland in the home. Early in the Spring of 1861 con- 
sumption claimed her as its victim. She died August 24, 
1 8 6 1 . They had ten children . 

1. Henry Purdy, born July 6, 1827, died May 19, 1828. 

2. Fanny Orinda, born April 13, 1829. Was a successful 
school teacher in early life. Married Milton Bailey December 
24, 1856. The most of their married life was spent in James- 
town, N. Y., where both were very active in Christian work. 
Mr. Bailey assisted in fotmding the Chautauqua Assembly 
and publishing the Assembly Herald. She has never missed 
spending her summers upon the grounds, and was a member 
of the first graduating class of the Chautauqua Reading Circle. 
For many years she was Superintendent of the large M. E. 
S. S. at Jamestown, also active in missionary work, and for 
many years President of the local Union of the W. C. T. U. 
Since her husband, s death, July 21, 1896, her home has been 
with her son Milton, in Bradford, Pa. 

56 



They had five children, three now living. 

(i). Charles Justin, born June 21, 1859. Gradu- 
ated from the West Point Military Academy in 1880, 
and has been in the U. S. service since. Has two 
children. 

(2). Benjamin Milton, born April 29, 1861. Lives 
at Bradford, Pa. Is in the Bradford Hardwood Co. 
and Bicycle Rim business. Has seven children. 

(3). Mary Lodeska, born August 23, 1863, died 
July 24, 1887. 

(4). Emma Bird, born October 24, 1866, died Nov- 
ember 27, 1866. 

(5). William Shindell, born January 7, 1869. Lives 
at Jamestown, N. Y. Is manager of the "Chautauqua 
Correspondence School of Nursing." Has one child. 

3. Mary Louise, born July 4, 1831. Married Seldon Tracy 
of Smithfield, September 16, 1858. Died Oct. 30, 1859. 

4. Hiram Pearsall, born April 27, 1834, died Oct. 18, 1834. 

5. Justin Plumb, born September 16, 1835, died Febru- 
ary 8, 1857. 

6. Wayland Bruce, born April 15, 1838. Lives at East 
Smithfield. December 24, 1861, he married Phebe Wood, 
born March 6, 1843. They have had six children, five now 
living, as follows: 

(i). Wellner B. Andrus, born March 8, 1863. Mar- 
ried and lives in Dakota. Was nine years County Su- 
perintendent of Schools. Now a teacher and stock 
raiser. Has one child. 

(2). Laura May, born October 16, 1865, married G. 
W. Tracy and lives in Dakota. Has five children. 

57 



(3). Fred Leland, born May i, 1872. Lives in 
Dakota. 

(4). Roy Sumner, born March 4, 1882. Graduated 
at Warner's Business College in Elmira, N. Y. 

(5). Fanny Louisa, born November 27, 1884. Is 
living in the home. 

7. Julian Lewellyn, born January 19, 1842. Married 
Blanche Henry, December 23, 1869. Lives at Bradford, 
Pa. Is an oil inspector. Has two children. 

(i). James Louman, born 1873. 
(2). Blanche Broder, born 1885. 
His wife died in 1895. 

8. Louman Bosworth, born September 19, 1845, died 
August 29, 1872. 

9. Elland Laura, born September 25, 1848, died Janu- 
ary 24, 1852. 

10. Weiner Lee, born December 13, 1853, died May 2, 
1857- 

VI. and VII. SOPHIA and MARIA, twins, youngest chil- 
dren of Michael and Betsey Bird, born April 5, 181 2. 
Sophia died April 26, 181 2. 
Maria died May 24, 1812. 



58 



HISTORY OF THE SUMNER FAMILY. 



JESSE SUMNER ^vas born in Halifax, Vermont, Septem 
ber2,i789. In iSii or '12 he sought a home in the then "far 
West." In Smithfield, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, he 
bought a tract of wild land, now owned by George Dubert. 
He cut and cleared four acres, sowed it to winter wheat, and 
in the fall of 181 2 returned to Halifax to claim as his bride 
Mary Miller Harkness, who was bom in Coleraine, Massachu- 
setts, Januar}- 7, 1791. She had lived four years in the fam- 
ily of Samuel Niles of Halifax, where their acquaintance had 
ripened into love. 

They were married December 17, 181 2, and very soon 
started for their new home in Pennsylvania. Their convey- 
ance was a sled drawn by two yoke of oxen. On this sled 
were packed a feather bed with bedding, their clothing mostly 
of home manufacture of wool and linen home spun and woven, 
a little furniture, a small stand now in the home on the Bird 
farm, a looking glass, some table ware, table cloths and towels 
all like the sheets and pillov/ cases, home spun and woven from 
home raised flax, for cotton goods, if known at all, were too 
high priced for the use of the pioneers. A rocking chair for 
the bride to sit on during the ride was securely fastened to the 
sled, and in the straw under her chair was secreted a home- 
made linen handkerchief, plaided blue and white, containing 
two hundred dollars in silver and gold. This was thought the 

59 



safest place to carry it, for, as she said, "Who would ever 
think of searching in that straw for money, even in the night 
time while we were sleeping in the tavern beds." 

As was then customary, they took a stock of provisions, 
both cooked and uncooked, and when night came would stop 
at a tavern, get the oxen cared for, their load of goods under 
cover if possible, eat of their own food, adding to it tavern 
supplies if necessary, and after a good night's rest, go forward 
in happy anticipation of reaching their Western home and a 
life of joy together. 

How long it took to make the trip is not known. They 
stopped for the night at a home South of Tioga Point, now 
called Athens, on a farm since known as theWatkins farm, 
expecting to reach Smithfield the next day. In the morning 
Mr. Sumner was sick. A doctor was called who said " typhus 
fever" as it was then called. In ten days Mrs. Sumner took 
the dead body of her husband to Smithfield for burial. In- 
stead of a happy bride, she was a broken hearted widow. 
Smithfield friends were kind, especially the family of Deacon 
Asa Hackett, whom she had known in Vermont. They made 
her welcome in their home. She immediately wrote to her 
husband's father in Halifax, of his son's death. He received 
the letter early in the day, and said: "To-morrow morning I 
shall start for Pennsylvania to bring Mary home." 

He did start early the next morning on horseback for 
Smithfield. He reached the home of Deacon Samuel Wood 
one day about noon. He said," Where is my son Jesse buried?" 
Mr. Wood replied, "You are very tired. Rest to-day; to- 
morrow I will take you to his grave." " No, I must go to-day. 
I cannot sleep till I see my son's grave." They went that af- 
ternoon. The next morning he did not rise. Going to his 

60 



room they found him very sick, and in ten days buried him 
beside his son Jesse. 

The young widow, twice bereft, felt there was nothing for 
her to do but to bravely bear her lot as best she could. Cir- 
cumstances would not permit her returning to Vermont. 
There were two yoke of oxen to be sold, a crop of winter wheat 
to be harvested, the lot of wild land to be looked after, 
and she must remain in Smithfield. Mr. Hackett's family 
gave her a home, where October ii, 1813, a son was bom, 

JESSE THE SECOND. 

Mrs. Sumner was a brave and energetic woman. She felt 
that she could and ought to support herself. A small log 
school house stood on the West side of the road leading from 
the Bird home to the main road and not far from the corner. 
The inhabitants of the district offered her the use of that 
house to live in with her little child if she would teach their 
children the usual school months. She gladly accepted their 
offer, receiving such remuneration as they chose to give. 
When not teaching the children, she would spin wool or flax, 
or do sewing for the neighbors, always doing whatsoever her 
hand found to do. She said to the writer, "The boys and 
young men were all very kind to me, keeping wood cut and do 
many things for me, John Bird with the rest, I thought noth- 
ing of it, till one Sunday evening he came to my home and 
said, 'Would you not like to go up to Mr. Morse's for prayer 
meeting?' I replied, 'I cannot go on baby's account.' '0, 
but I will carry the baby for you if you will go.' So I got 
ready, he took the baby in his arms, and while we were going 
he asked me to be his wife. I was thunderstruck. My first 
thought was, how can I give up the name of Sumner? I did 
not answer him that night, but you may believe I didn't take 

61 



any interest in one word said in that prayer meeting." 

The final answer was yes, and they were married May 
12, 1814. John Bird took his wife and son Jesse into his 
father's home until another house could be built for them. 
Over Jesse he exercised the same love and care afterward 
given to his own sons. Between Jesse and the Bird broth- 
ers and sisters true love existed. They often said, "Jesse 
is just as dear to us as we are to each other." He remained 
in the Bird home until he was twenty -eight years of age, 
receiving after he was twenty-one pay by the month, like 
any other hired man. The money he earned in this way 
added to what was left of the sale of his father's property, 
which had been carefully saved for him, enabled him to 
buy a farm of one hundred and sixty acres one mJle from 
Smithfield Centre, where he spent the remainder of his 
life. 

November 21, 1841, he married Louisa, daughter of Ziba 
and Eliza Bird Gerould, and they immediately commenced 
housekeeping in the log house then upon the place. Their 
early married life, like others of those days, was one of hard 
work, self-denial and economy. But persisting in these, 
he acquired sufficient money to enable him to make im- 
provements on his farm, adding much to its value. He 
built a nice house, large barns, and surrounded himself with 
all the comforts of life, and left a competence to his children. 
In 1850 he became a Christian and united with the Congre- 
gational Church. He remained faithful to his Church vows, 
giving liberally of his money, and was very active in the 
building of the new house of worship in 1861, being a mem- 
ber of the building committee. Some misunderstanding, 
or difference of opinion between him and some leading mem- 
ber of the Church resulted in his withdrawal from church 

62 



life and work. A few months before his death, the writer 
had a long talk with him of his religious feelings and hopes. 
He expressed himself as having never given up his hope in 
Christ, regretted that things had occurred as they had, and 
expressed a confidence in Christ as his Saviour and Comfor- 
ter to the end. After forty years of very happy married 
life, his wife died April 23, 1881. They had three children. 

1. Orpheus Bird Sumner, born April 8, 1846, married 
Helen Brigham, October 27, 1877. and remained in 
the home. They faithfully cared for the father after the 
mother's death till December 16, 1892, when he passed 
away. Orpheus still lives in the old home. His wife 
Helen died November 15, 1895. He has four children. 

(i). Louise, born August 6, 1878, married Edwin 
Drake, October 28, 1903, and lives in Athens. Has 
one child. 

(2). Jesse, born August 29, 1882. 

(3). Bert, born July 24. 1886. 

(4). Fred, born February 21. 1892. All living in 
the home. 

2. Elbertine L., born September 21, 1842, married Lewis 
Alba Bosworth, of LeRaysville, November 27, 1866. Their 
children are : 

(i). Jesse L., born September 10, 1871, married 
Jennie IMahaflfey, at Thomson, Illinois, December 
18, 1901. Is a butter maker in Colon, Michigan, 
and has one child. 

(2). Harry Alba, born December 9, 1872, married 
Amelia A. Johnson of LeRaysville. Is a merchant 
living in LeRaysville. Has one child. 

63 



(3). Guy, born October 13, 1874, married Mattie 
Kingsley of Smithfield, June 8, 1898. Is a druggist. 
Lives at Nichols, N. Y. Has two children. 

(4). Hugh, born December 31, 1879, unmarried, 
lives with his parents. 

(5). Ray, born July 27, 1881. Died February 
7, 1885. 

(6). Arthur, born November 17, 1884, unmarried 
lives with his parents. 

3. Betsey Gerould Sumner, born September 6, 1848, 
married Lewellyn Blackman of LeRaysville, January 6, 
1870. He was a druggist. Present residence, Lester- 
shire, N. Y. 

(i). They had one son, Augustus, born February 
10, 1872. After graduating from a school of Phar- 
macy in Philadelphia, he became a druggist in New 
York City. Died November 10, 1896. 



64 



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